


you know i know you best

by fluorescent_adolescent13



Category: The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: F/F, Sickfic, emma cancels their date but alyssa comes over anyway, short and sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:13:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25588066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fluorescent_adolescent13/pseuds/fluorescent_adolescent13
Summary: In the few short weeks it had been since they’d made things official, neither of them had gotten sick. Not so much as a runny nose or cough. They’d had countless dinners. They’d poured over the possibilities that their futures held together. They’d cried a few times - luckily not over each other - and claimed a drawer in each other’s apartments. Hell, Emma had even met Alyssa’s mother.But sick? That was a bridge they hadn’t crossed yet.
Relationships: Alyssa Greene/Emma Nolan
Comments: 4
Kudos: 72





	you know i know you best

**Author's Note:**

> Short and sweet. Just an idea that I had bouncing about - and a means of procrastination. Let me know what you think!

Alyssa had debated with herself the full ride over to Emma’s apartment whether or not she should just turn back all together. The blonde had cancelled their plans for that morning with a hasty text the previous night, saying that she was feeling under the weather and that it might be better just to reschedule. It wasn’t that Alyssa was disappointed - well, she _was_ disappointed, but that was only because she couldn’t seem to get enough of the other woman. It was just uncharted territory, and Alyssa wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do. 

In the few short weeks it had been since they’d made things official, not to mention the months beforehand that they had been dating, neither of them had gotten sick. Not so much as a runny nose or cough. They’d had countless dinners. They’d poured over the possibilities that their futures held together. They’d cried a few times - luckily not over each other - and claimed a drawer in each other’s apartments. Hell, Emma had even met Alyssa’s mother.

But sick? That was a bridge they hadn’t crossed yet.

Alyssa knew that it was only right that she play the dutiful girlfriend. She couldn’t help but smile at the term as the thought crossed her mind. No, the brunette corrected herself, there was nothing that she wanted more than to be taking care of Emma right now. It wasn’t a chore. It was just...new. And Emma didn’t have anyone else. Her family was out of the picture. 

Alyssa pulled out her phone as the doors of the elevator slid open in front of her. 

_The door is open_

Alyssa smiled at the text. She adjusted her bag on her shoulder, heavy with the weight of supplies she’d brought especially, and headed on the familiar route down the hallway until she found herself in front of apartment 27F. She knocked politely before trying the handle.

“Em?” Alyssa called as she pushed the door open. 

Her heart sunk at the sight of her girlfriend cocooned in her duvet on the couch, tucked up and looking far smaller than the brunette had ever seen her before. ‘Under the weather’ seemed like an understatement now. 

“‘Lyssa?” Emma mumbled, her head poking out from the covers.

“Hey, baby,” she replied with a soft smile.

Alyssa kicked off her shoes and hastily dropped off her supplies in the kitchen before making a beeline for the couch. She perched on the end of it, brushing away the hair from Emma’s face. She couldn’t help but let a frown settle on her own. The blonde looked exhausted. Alyssa knew that she was stubborn at the best of times, they both were, but she wished that Emma would have told her sooner. 

“You didn’t have to come over.”

Alyssa shrugged. “I wanted to make sure that you were okay.”

Emma’s lips curled into a weak smile. She pushed open the duvet and made space for the brunette next to her, reaching out for her. Alyssa hesitated for a moment before taking Emma’s hand and letting herself be pulled down. 

“Thank you.”

Emma let out a long breath as she snuggled into Alyssa, holding her girlfriend tightly. She had been feeling off all through the week but had been willing herself to at least make it to the weekend. If she could make it til then she wouldn’t have to take any time off of work, and maybe - just maybe - she would have been well enough to make their date. But then she had started to feel worse. And then she had been up all night sick. And then she forgot to buy picnic supplies and she had to take a half day at the studio before she keeled over right there and then. 

And then she had to cancel. That made her feel almost as terrible as the pain in her stomach.

Alyssa coming though - that was a ray of sunshine cutting through the dark clouds. 

“It’s okay,” Alyssa replied, placing a kiss on the blonde’s forehead. Her lips lingered for a moment, and then her hand drifted up to Emma’s face. “You’re pretty warm, Em. Maybe we should try and cool you off.”

Emma shook her head. “Cmphff-”

“What was that?” Alyssa asked, not quite catching the muffled words against her chest.

“Comfy,” Emma sighed. “I’ll move in a little bit.”

“Okay,” Alyssa chuckled as Emma snuggled in more. She ran her comfortingly up and down the blonde’s back, tracing soothing shapes onto her skin. “When was the last time you had something to eat?”

Emma shrugged halfheartedly. “Can’t remember.”

“I brought some soup. I figured that would be pretty easy.”

“Maybe later.”

Emma thought back to that afternoon. Hunched over the toilet was not the way that she wanted to spend the night too. It was the last thing that she wanted Alyssa to see either. 

Alyssa nodded. “Just let me know what you need, baby.”

Emma tensed, feeling another small wave of pain in her torso. She didn’t want Alyssa to be concerned though, so she shifted her position slightly and cleared her throat. “Maybe we could watch a movie or something?”

She had been in and out of sleep all day - partly because of how exhausted she felt, but also to simply escape how awful she felt otherwise too. She knew that she would inevitably drift off again, especially with the newfound comfort that the brunette had brought with her presence alone, but a movie sounded good enough for the time being. It would distract her at least.

She whined as Alyssa slipped out from beneath her, not having quite considered that part, but the brunette returned a moment or so later with her laptop in hand. Alyssa slid back beneath the covers sitting up slightly as she opened the computer. She smiled as Emma nestled into her side and draped an arm over her torso. Eventually they settled on a movie that they had both seen before, knowing that it would be easy enough to watch, and Alyssa settled in - her hand snaking up to Emma’s head and stroking through the blonde waves. 

Emma let out a long placated sigh. Maybe it wasn’t all that bad. 

Alyssa could feel herself starting to drift off too as the film progressed but she did little to fight it, letting herself be swallowed up. It didn’t matter - Emma was in her arms. It was comfortable and warm and...

There was nobody beside her when Alyssa opened her eyes again. The room was darker and the couch had grown cold as the space beside her opened up. The laptop had been placed carefully on the table next to her. It took a second for her brain to catch up, and second longer after that to remember where she even was. 

Emma.

She frowned, throwing the covers off of herself before going in search of the blonde. It didn’t take long though. 

Emma heard the footsteps in front of her drawing nearer but she didn’t have the energy to look up. She was warm and sore and the nauseous feeling in her stomach was growing with every moment that passed her. All that she could focus on was taking deep breaths to try and settle it.

“Hey.”

“Are you okay?”

She nodded slightly, her head tipped back against the bathtub. “It’s colder in here.”

Alyssa sighed, though she took a seat on the bathroom floor - sliding across the tiles until they were side by side. She brought a hand up to feel Emma’s forehead. “You’re burning up.

Emma hummed. “I figured.”

“Let’s get you into bed,” Alyssa said. She thought back to her bag, trying to remember what she had brought with her before. She had crackers and soup. Those always seemed to help. Emma never had anything in her kitchen anyway, relying on takeout most of the time unless Alyssa was there to force something a little better on her plate. She didn’t mind though. Alyssa half thought that Emma did it on purpose sometimes. “And I’ll get you some water.”

Emma let herself be led to her bedroom, curling up into a ball on her bed as Alyssa fussed around her - only stopping as her phone started to buzz in her back pocket. 

“Shit,” Alyssa groaned.

“What is it?”

Alyssa shook her head. “Nothing. Just work. They need me to come in.”

“You should go,” Emma said quietly, closing her eyes again.

“Well, they can ask someone else,” Alyssa sighed. 

“Alyssa,” Emma cut in. “I’m just going to be sleeping anyway.”

“It’s my day off,” Alyssa sighed. “And my girlfriend is sick. I’m not going anywhere.”

Alyssa’s phone buzzed again and her eyebrows furrowed as she looked down at the screen.

“It’s fine honestly,” Emma assured her. “They probably need you more than I do if they’re calling this late.”

Alyssa paused for a moment, weighing up the options in her head. She knew that Emma was right. It was important. But bailing on the blonde didn’t sit right with her either.

“Okay,” she said finally. “If you’re sure?”

“Absolutely,” Emma nodded. 

“If you need anything, you’ll call me straight away?” Alyssa asked. “I can be here at the drop of a hat.”

Emma nodded again. “I will.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

Alyssa let out a long breath. “I’ll text you in a little bit.”

“‘Lys,” Emma chuckled. “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”

* * *

Alyssa let out a whine as the sound of her phone ringing echoed throughout the room. It felt like she had only been asleep for a few minutes. She threw a hand over to her nightstand, reaching blindly for the blaring device - her eyes squinting as they adjusted to the lack of light in the room. She caught a glimpse of the time as she picked it up. 

04:17.

Unknown number.

Her eyebrows furrowed. It was too early for a cold call. And she had a caller ID for just about everyone else. Her heart sank, an immediate sense of dread radiating through her body. Alyssa was never one to jump to conclusions but she just _knew._ Something was off. Something felt wrong.

She swiped across the screen to answer.

“Hello?” Alyssa asked, her voice still raspy from sleep.

“Hi there. Is this Alyssa Greene?” a woman asked from the other end of the line, only continuing after the brunette mumbled a confirmation. “I’m calling from the emergency department at IU Methodist.”

Her heart thumped harder in her chest. Her tired brain tried to make sense of the new information, trying to string the pieces together. Her mom was back in Edgewater and had no plans to visit her, and she didn’t have any other family in the city. There was nobody else that would call her for this sort of thing.

Unless.

“What’s happened?”

“I have you listed here as the emergency contact for Emma Nolan,” the woman continued. “Her neighbour brought her in earlier this morning and she’s been taken for emergency surgery. If you-”

Alyssa didn’t make much sense of the rest of their conversation. The stranger’s words all seemed to blur together into one. All that Alyssa could focus on was trying to settle the growing panic that was churning away inside of her.

“Okay,” Alyssa said eventually, her thoughts swimming around her head incoherently. “I’ll be there soon.”

Emma had seemed fine.

Everything had seemed okay.

It was the only reason that Alyssa had even entertained the thought of leaving Emma by herself alone at all. 

She pushed the duvet away from her, grabbing a sweatshirt from the corner of the room and heading straight for the front door of her apartment before she could think twice about it. 

* * *

It felt like she had been waiting hours. By the time that she had gotten to the hospital and told where to wait, it hadn’t been too long in reality, but with every second that passed her by Alyssa only yearned to see Emma more. It was only when a nurse finally came to tell her that she could see the blonde that Alyssa started to feel the first glimmers of relief on the horizon. 

Alyssa let out a long breath as she turned the corner and caught a glimpse of blonde hair through the door, feeling her lip wobble as Emma’s head turned and their eyes met.

“Hey,” Alyssa smiled. 

_She was okay._

“Hey,” Emma smiled back woozily.

Alyssa couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of deja vu oozing from the situation. Only now the blonde was lying under thin sheets on a hospital bed instead of wrapped up in a thick blanket in the comfort of her own apartment. Alyssa knew which one she preferred seeing - and it wasn’t the one where her girlfriend had an abundance of wires sticking out from each and every angle. 

Alyssa took a few steps forward, taking the seat closest to the bed. “My condolences on the loss of your appendix.”

Emma shrugged. “We had artistic differences.”

Alyssa laughed softly, grateful for the feeling of relief that washed over her. It didn’t make her any less worried though. She wasn’t sure when that feeling would go away, but she didn’t care either. Emma was fine and that was all that mattered to Alyssa now. 

“I was so...” Alyssa sighed, cutting herself off mid-sentence. She reached over and took Emma’s hand in her own. “You can’t do that to me again. You should have said something.”

“I didn’t want to worry you.”

Alyssa nodded. She would give the blonde a hard time for it some other day, and make her make it up to her somehow, but now wasn’t the time for that.

“At least you’ll have a cool scar,” she smiled. She laced her fingers through the blonde’s and gave a gentle squeeze. “I heard that chicks dig scars.”

Emma giggled, though grimaced quickly at the ache the movement brought her. “And I get to eat lots of ice cream too. So I’m starting to think that the pros outweigh the cons.”

“I think that’s only for tonsillitis, babe,” Alyssa grinned. “And kids.”

She frowned, a pout settling on her face that only made the brunette laugh. “What? No fair?”

“I’m sure we can make an exception.”

Alyssa paused for a moment as she looked at her girlfriend, feeling a lump rise in her throat at the sight. She felt silly for how she had acted that morning, that she shouldn’t have been as worried as she had been logically, but she also knew that the possibility of anything bad happening to Emma had the potential to turn her entire world on its head. Alyssa wasn’t looking forward to that feeling rolling around again. She hoped that it never would. 

For now though, she was content that Emma was safe - and surrounded by dozens of people that knew exactly how to keep her that way. That was enough to quell some of the anxiety that was still lingering within her. 

“I was so scared,” Alyssa said after a few more quiet seconds. She stroked her thumb back and forth across Emma’s fingers. “When they called me...I don’t know, I didn’t know what to think.”

“I’m sorry.”

Alyssa shook her head. “It’s not your fault.”

“I thought it was just a bug or something, I should have known better,” Emma replied. She hesitated before opening her mouth again. “And for listing you as my emergency contact. I-”

“It’s okay,” Alyssa reassured the blonde.

“I just...I don’t have anyone else.”

“I know.”

“So you’re not upset?”

Alyssa let out a watery laugh. “No, I’m not upset. I want to be that for you, Em. I want everything with you.”

“Does that mean you get to put my name down too if something happens?”

“Absolutely not,” Alyssa shook her head. “Shelby from work is mine. We made a next of kin pact. Non-negotiable.”

“ _‘Lyssa_ ,” Emma whined.

Alyssa replied earnestly. “Of course you can. I would like that.”

Emma gave a small smile. “Good.”

“Good.”

“Romantic right?”

Alyssa glanced dramatically around the room for effect, though squeezing the blonde’s hand tenderly as she answered. “I’m swooning.”

There were a lot of things that could have gone better for them that weekend, Alyssa thought, but all things considered there really wasn’t anywhere that she would rather be. 

“Will you stay with me for a little bit?” Emma asked.

“I’ll stay with you for as long as you want me to,” Alyssa answered sincerely. Maybe a little too seriously for the question that she had been asked. She meant it though. 

Emma hummed contentedly. “That’s a dangerous answer.”

“I’m sure I’ll cope,” Alyssa smiled. “Get some rest, baby.”

Alyssa pushed back some stray strands of blonde from Emma’s forehead. Emma barely even tried to fight the sleep that was nagging at her senses, feeling herself lean into unconsciousness almost as much as she was leaning into the brunette’s touch as her fingers combed through her hair. She just hoped that Alyssa would still be there holding her hand when she woke up.

In fact, Emma thought just as she was about to drift off, she wished that Alyssa would be there every time that she woke up, for the rest of their lives. Even if all she could have was that and that alone, she knew that she would be happy.


End file.
